Diane Calnan

Diane joined BCL Burton Copeland in 1991, prior to that she worked for the Metropolitan Police and for the well respected high street practice Clifford Watts, Compton.

Diane qualified as a Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives in June 2002 and was admitted as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England & Wales in December 2008, having completed her LPC at the College of Law, Bloomsbury.

Since joining BCL, Diane has worked on a number of high profile and complex cases ranging from general criminal offences to offences of serious fraud.  In particular Diane has defended individuals charged with armed robbery, murder, extradition, sexual offences and major drugs matters to offences of fraud prosecuted by the Serious Fraud Office, HM Revenue & Customs and the Special Casework Division of the Crown Prosecution Service.  In particular Diane was involved in “Operation Cotton” – a £15m money laundering undercover “sting” operation which was stopped following a successful abuse of process argument, the Learned Judge ruling that the police had acted unlawfully. 

Diane assisted in the preparation of the latest edition of Brian Spiro’s “Police Station Adviser’s Index”.

Diane is a member of The Law Society, The Extradition Lawyers’ Association, The London Criminal Courts Solicitors’ Association, and The Institute of Legal Executives, and is currently serving as a committee member of The Young Fraud Lawyers’ Association.